"Ah, classic gaming bliss"

I was always a fan of classic gaming. Intellivision, Atari, you name it, I love playing them. Unfortunately, the first system I ever owned was Nintendo, and I just started playing Atari games a few years ago (yes, I was deprived). However, when I went to a local video rental store, I saw this game sitting by its lonesome on the shelf. I figured, hey, why not try it out? Little did I know that a few weeks later I would actually buy the game, but this game is a great compilation of old games.

Gameplay: Just like the original games. Each game has it's pros and cons, and this review would be a book if I went through every game, but I don't really feel like sitting in front of this computer screen to set about that task. But each game has all of it's original graphics, sounds, controls, et cetera. All of the games are as fun to play as they were a while back. Sure, they may not have you hooked as long as games nowadays do, but invite a friend over, and you can be trying to beat each other's high scores in each game. That leads to one con in general: the game does not include a high score list. I was upset by that missing detail. But for the general pros, by getting specific scores, you can unlock a variety of things, including different gameplay modes (more on that soon), commercials, and the original patches that they used to give out for high scores. Nifty, eh? As for the gameplay modes, Activision Anthology added a neat, but sometimes mind boggling, mode where you can adjust the TV screen to do....odd....things. For example, one mode puts a fog effect on the screen. Another rotates the screen a complete 360 degrees (that's an odd experience, playing Pitfall upside down for a few seconds). Yet another is a ''bungee cord'' effect, where the game zooms in, then zooms out to the point of ''What am I doing?''. Very interesting feature, that makes games either more frustrating or more fun and challenging. These are especially cool for those multiplayer bouts. Gameplay Rating: 9

Control: There's not really much to say; it's exactly the same as the original Atari, except a different controller. Use the control pad to move around, and the X button as the action button. Simple, no? Control Rating: 10

Graphics: Again, the same as the original. Some of the gameplay modes can spruce this up a bit, and the graphics, by themselves, are horrible by today's standards, of course, but Activision tried to keep the games as nostalgic as possible. And it worked. Graphics Rating: 9 (going by the standards of when these games were originally released, not today's standards. Or else this would be a horrible 1.)

Sound: Activision boosted this rating by adding extras. Not only do they keep the original beeps and bips, but they added another great aspect: a retro soundtrack. It features music from the 80's. A nice mix, too (I especially like playing Pitfall to Twisted Sister). However, I thought that more songs could have been added. Sound Rating: 8

Longetivity: All depends on whether or not you like retro games. If not, you'll probably play it for an hour or so, and never touch it again. Then again, if you grew up to these sorts of games, you may never take it out of your disc tray. Longetivity Rating: 8

Buy/Rent: I'd recommend that you rent this game first. If you enjoy it that much, then buy it. I actually bought it online for only $15, so it's not bad at all. But a friend and I rented it first to check it out, and I enjoyed it.

A nice little break from all the modern hype, this game can really bring back memories for the people who played these games, or can introduce new gamers to old concepts. I personally enjoy this game, and recommend it to all gamers, whether they are new gamers or veterans.